Ayatollah Shahroudi Laid to Rest

Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who passed away on Monday at the age of 70 after months of ill health, was laid to rest in the holy city of Qom on Wednesday. 
Earlier in the day, a grand procession was held in Tehran to pay tribute to the late cleric, in which Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei led the funeral prayer, ISNA reported. 
Top officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, attended the ceremony in Tehran. 
The prominent religious and political figure succumbed to renal and intestinal malfunctions at Tehran’s Khatam al-Anbia Hospital on Monday.
In a message of condolence on Tuesday, the Leader described Ayatollah Shahroudi as “a great teacher of theology” and “a faithful official of the Islamic Republic system”. 
He also hailed the cleric as a “competent” member of the Guardians Council and a “successful” head of Expediency Council.
The Leader will host a memorial service in Tehran on Thursday in commemoration of the long-serving official. 
During his lifetime, Ayatollah Shahroudi served in several key positions in the Islamic Republic. He took the helm of Expediency Council in 2017 to succeed late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. 
The Expediency Council is mainly responsible for resolving disagreements between the Iranian Parliament and the Guardians Council that itself supervises the parliament.
Ayatollah Shahroudi also served as judiciary chief for 10 years. The senior cleric was also a member and deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which elects and oversees the performance of the Leader of Islamic Revolution. He had also been a member of the Guardians Council for years.